


bets and bribes

by Engineer104



Series: omg they were teachers [4]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Goddess Tower (Fire Emblem), Married Couple, Post-Canon, Post-Golden Deer Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), School Dances, Suggestive Themes, but omg they were teachers, probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 19:28:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30144462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Engineer104/pseuds/Engineer104
Summary: Annette gets a special sort of delight watching Felix suffer through the Officers’ Academy’s annual ball, but she always has a way to make it up to him (assuming Seteth doesn’t find something else for them to do first).
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Series: omg they were teachers [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1758781
Comments: 14
Kudos: 42





	bets and bribes

**Author's Note:**

> another old one-shot that’s been gathering dust! this one’s just (mostly) pure (mostly) dumb (mostly) fluff, teachers’ ending flavored
> 
> enjoy!

These days Annette’s favorite part of the annual ball in Ethereal Moon isn’t the dancing or the students’ own infectious excitement or even the copious desserts prepared for the event. No, it’s watching little gaggles of students take a few steps towards the sulky weapons instructor nursing a goblet of too-sweet punch and glaring out at the ballroom as if he’d rather be on a battlefield than in a ballroom (which, she knows from achingly personal experience, to be true).

The process repeats almost every year, and every hour. One student, male or female, splits from their knot of classmates and approaches the unapproachable. They exude nervousness no matter if they wear a confident smile or a tremulous one, much like they do when entering Annette’s classroom on the day of an exam. Their steps are either halting or wide, and they pause before their weapons instructor who appraises them from over the top of his cup, expectant and impatient.

“What?” Felix says to his latest...claimant.

The girl’s smile falters, but she manages to offer a curtsy before asking, “C-can I have a dance, Professor?”

Felix stares at her for one heartbeat. “What? No,” he denies with a roll of his eyes. “Do I look like one of your peers?”

“Uh…” The girl’s jaw drops in shock.

Annette hides her face behind her own cup to muffle a giggle. Every  _ year _ …

He crosses his arms and scowls at the student. “Save your nerve for the training grounds.” With that he turns his back on her, only for his gaze to fall on Annette where she stands trying very hard not to burst into laughter.

The girl scampers away, her shoulders sagging, but Annette doesn’t doubt it’s with relief rather than disappointment. She might understand - well, empathize - if she actually, somehow, fancied Felix (though he presents himself as more of a...villain to his students), but every year she watches the same scene unfold when the rejected student rejoins their friends and money exchanges hands.

Annette doesn’t know the exact details of what incites the payment, but she’s sure a dance with the notoriously stern weapons instructor isn’t the objective when simply asking him for one must require boldness.

She would know, and convincing him to dance with her in public is still a trial in patience and bribery.

By now it’s late enough half the students have trickled away from the hall (and likely to some shadowy corner of monastery grounds), though Seteth monitors the ball as devoutly as ever. Linhardt slumps in a chair near the dessert table, not even bothering to attempt to look awake, and Manuela stands over a seated student holding an icepack to their forehead.

A smile tugs at Annette’s lips as she sidles up to Felix. His gaze shifts sideways to her, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a slight smile, but it fades when she wonders, “Any chance you’ll accept if  _ I _ ask you to dance?”

His nose wrinkles but he grumbles, “Maybe, if you ask nicely.”

Annette rests her hands on her hips in mock offense. “You mean if I bribe you for it,” she retorts.

Felix scoffs, “Your method of bribery isn’t very effective if you usually give it freely.”

Her face warms, but she crosses her arms and stares him down. “What if I withhold it if you  _ don’t _ dance with me?”

“What makes you think you need to bribe me for that?” he says, his eyebrow lifting and a slight frown marring his face.

“Now you’re just contradicting yourself,” Annette complains.

Felix sips from his goblet. “How so?”

“You said if I asked nicely,” she notes, “and for you ‘asking nicely’ means ‘give me something like a song in exchange’.”

His brow furrows as he appraises her only to set his goblet aside on a nearby table. “You really think that little of me?”

“Well, you don’t give me much of a reason  _ not _ to!” she reminds him with a scowl, unable to help the flicker of irritation rising in her.

Yet Felix’s lips twitch as if he’s fighting a smile - which is almost as infuriating as his talking in circles around her - before his fingers close around her wrist.

Her heart jumps when he all but drags her towards the dance floor where the last stragglers sway more than actually dance. The string ensemble in the corner plays a slow tune, and maybe Annette would protest how  _ public _ Felix’s sudden burst of...spontaneity is if more students were still present.

A laugh bursts from her when he swings her around, and when she nearly trips over her own feet he catches her against him before she rights herself. By the time they stand in a proper position to somewhat dance, her face is warm and her heart races and she’s already breathless with laughter.

Her hand tightens around Felix’s, and she glances up at him to find him smiling slightly. “That was...unexpected,” she says with a giggle. “Where did that come from?”

“You insulted me,” he claims, and his smile gains an edge. “I had to prove you wrong.”

“So I don’t need to bribe you after all?” Annette wonders. “Or are you planning to collect after the fact?”

Felix hums, and she can feel his fingertip sliding over the slender wedding band on her ring finger. “Haven’t I already?” he asks in a low, almost contemplative voice. His other hand slips along her waist to rest on the small of her back, and they stand so close Annette doesn’t doubt he can feel the instant she shivers.

Forget dancing, a part of Annette wants to drag him away and escape the ball for some quiet hidden corner of Garreg Mach just like their teenage students.

“Ahem, Annette, Felix?”

Annette springs away from Felix, her heart leaping into her throat and her face hot (though they’ve scarcely done anything wrong) before she spins around to find Seteth practically looming over them with his arms crossed. “Oh, Seteth!” she says with a nervous smile. “What’s going on?”

Seteth clears his throat, his gaze darting from her to Felix - whose hand still hovers near hers, close enough she can easily reach out and lace their fingers together - before he says, “Since it is getting to be quite late in the evening and the ball itself is soon to end, I would be grateful if you could sweep the Monastery grounds for any students who haven’t yet sought the...privacy of their rooms or who may be attempting to trespass into the Goddess Tower.”

Annette doesn’t need to be asked twice, not when he’s presented them with such a golden opportunity to leave at last. She grabs Felix’s hand and says, “We will do that, of course! We’ll make sure anyone we come across makes it back to their rooms, right, Felix?”

“Uh…” When she peeks at him his cheeks are as red as hers must be, and he doesn’t quite look at her. “Sure. Let’s go.”

It happens every year too, where Seteth grows a little paranoid of student “mischief” no matter how Manuela tries to soothe him, so on an impromptu patrol they must go. It’s the perfect escape despite the task laid at their feet, and Annette doesn’t hesitate to lead Felix out of the warm hall and into the cool night.

A late-night breeze washes over her shoulders, and this time she shivers for a different reason. Her gaze slips sideways to Felix where he walks abreast of her, and almost as if on her silent cue he rolls his eyes and shrugs out of his jacket. “Every year…” he grumbles as he drapes it over her shoulders.

“You’re more accustomed to the cold than I am!” Annette reminds him cheerfully. She clutches his jacket close and buries her nose in the collar; it smells just like him, like cinnamon and leather and the oil he uses to polish his blades, though perhaps not as good as the man himself.

“Right, well, you’re always the one who says we can’t make it too obvious,” he tells her. His hand rests against her back, spurring her to move a little faster, past empty benches and neatly trimmed hedges that might conceal students...or are probably just stirring in that same breeze that makes goosebumps rise on Annette’s exposed skin.

“No one else is around now,” she notes with a nod towards their surroundings, “and if they were, they’re probably far too preoccupied to notice what I’m wearing.”

Felix’s nose wrinkles. “I hope not,” he gripes. “I didn’t sign up for this job to separate indiscrete students when I grew up with Sylvain.”

Annette giggles despite herself, a giddiness filling her. “Well, then let’s just check the obvious spots before we call it a night,” she suggests. Her hand finds his, and she tugs him through the courtyard towards the cathedral.

She finds she doesn’t mind the monastery grounds by night, dark beyond the scope of the lanterns lining the pathways and silent except for the sound of their footsteps and her own voice filling her and Felix’s bubble. It’s easy to forget their responsibilities - including the one Seteth tasked them with tonight - while they’re alone and with no looming disasters hanging over their heads.

Their footsteps and voices echo up the tower as they take the stairs, when Felix says, “I don’t understand why Seteth doesn’t just seal it off.”

“He tried two years ago, didn’t he?” Annette reminds him. “Someone was eager enough to get in they cast a Thunder spell on the lock.”

He makes a face of some profound displeasure. “ _ Why _ ?” he wonders, and the confusion dripping from that single word startles another giggle from her. “Why the Goddess Tower? The Holy Mausoleum and some other secure chamber would be far more interesting to break into.”

“Well…” From her vantage a few steps higher than him, she has to look down to meet his eyes (for once), so she rests her hands on her hips and says, “The students like their romances. They’re no different than our classmates were when we were in their place.”

Felix opens his mouth to say something - probably that, as a student, he was scarcely interested in  _ romance _ with a war on the horizon - but a rash of high-pitched giggles from somewhere higher in the tower cuts him off. His eyes widen, and Annette’s own posture freezes before irritation flickers in her chest.

Speak of Nemesis and he would appear, and all that.

Annette turns around, facing up again, and clears her throat as loudly as she can. The giggling ceases, but not before a harsh hush cuts into them.

She glances over her shoulder at Felix, who shrugs as if telling her to lead the way.

It’s around the next curve of the stairwell they find a pair of students - Annette, unfortunately, knows their names and will not be able to forget this before they show their faces in her class in two days - with their formal clothes and hair in disarray, nestled in an alcove.

“Professor D-Dominic!” one of them says in a high, nervous voice. “We were just—”

“Leaving, right?” Annette suggests with a smile. “You do know the Goddess Tower is off-limits to students, right?”

The other laughs with an edge of anxiety. “Y-you’re not going to report us to Seteth, are you?”

“That depends,” Annette tells him. “Was your wish to the goddess that no one would catch you tonight?”

“Uh…”

“Just go to your dorms,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Your  _ separate _ ones, all right?” She lets some warmth into her smile and adds, “I’d like to pretend I didn’t see you either, if that makes you feel any better.”

The pair waste no time scrambling to their feet - Annette winces when one of them bumps his head against the alcove - and slipping past her and down the stairs. As they pass Felix a few steps down, they mumble a quick, “Good night, Professor.”

Felix just hums in response, and when Annette peers around the bend towards them she finds him leaning against the curving wall with his arms crossed.

“Thank you for your help, Felix,” she grumbles.

“You had it handled far nicer than I would’ve,” he tells her with a raised eyebrow. “I would’ve made them run extra drills for a month for subjecting us to them.”

“What makes you think I won’t assign them extra work?” Annette wonders.

Felix bridges the steps left between them and takes her hand. “I suppose I wrote that possibility off too soon then.”

They climb the rest of the way up, less in search of other rulebreakers and more to delay the end of the night, to the top of the tower. Annette struggles to control her breathing, her morning walks apparently not enough to keep her from getting winded climbing so many stairs, and her legs ache. But at last they stand overlooking the entire Monastery and the valley nestling it, deep darkness interspersed with soft pinpricks of light where the town stands. 

“I think the view must be nicer by day,” Annette muses.

Felix snorts but braces his hands on the rusted metal railing before he glances sideways at her. “Caught your breath?”

She glowers at him, but it melts into a smile when his lips twitch into a slight grin of his own. “It was some nice exercise,” she says, “but I’m afraid I’ve gotten your jacket all sweaty.”

He shrugs, fingertips idly brushing her shoulder before his hand falls back to his side. “Tomorrow’s an extra free day,” he says. “How long has it been since you indulged me in a sparring match?”

“Without an audience, you mean?” She slips her arm through his, half-clinging and half-leaning into him. “You mean the Knights don’t give you enough exercise outside class?”

“Not enough for a challenge, no,” Felix says. He tugs his arm from her grip, but before she can mourn it he wraps an arm around her waist underneath where his jacket drapes over her back. “They’re all rather...average, like this tower. I’m almost disappointed at how mundane the  _ Goddess _ Tower looks and how terrible it would be for defense.”

Annette laughs. “Well, it’s not about how  _ impressive _ it is, it’s about the lore behind it!”

He scoffs. “The legend about the goddess descending to earth here? Or the one about wishing the same thing as someone else? I doubt either one is true.”

She hums thoughtfully before shrugging, jostling him with the motion. “You don’t have anything to lose by making a wish anyway.”

Felix turns to regard her with a raised eyebrow. “Really? You want to make a wish tonight?”

Her face warms. “It was just a thought,” she admits. “If you hate it so much, we don’t have to.”

He presses his lips together, his gaze scanning her face before he looks back out at the monastery enshrouded in an almost starry darkness. “I confess I can’t think of anything worth wishing for,” he says in a low voice that shoots heat through her abdomen. “I...don’t have everything I wanted, but I am content, I think.”

She rests her head against his shoulder while a smile finds its way onto her face. That old flutter fills her chest, familiar in its fondness - she can hear the same sentiment in Felix’s words - but she can’t help teasing, “You mean you wouldn’t wish for more strength or something?”  _ Like you would’ve in our own Academy days,  _ she leaves unsaid.

Felix shrugs and turns to face her more fully. “Perhaps,” he concedes, “but it would be unearned strength if the goddess just granted it to me.” The corner of his lips lifts into a half-smirk. “What about you? Maybe we can make your wish instead.”

“Oh, well, I can’t think of anything really good,” she says, glancing down with a sheepish smile plastered on her face. “I’d say let’s wish for my more...worrying students to pass my class, but do I really want to waste a wish on that?”

He chuckles - she feels a flash of triumph at inciting a rare, almost laugh - and agrees, “Maybe not.”

Annette faces him then, a warmth washing over her as she leans towards him. “If we weren’t already married, I’d ask to make a vow we stay together, but I think I have everything I want now.”

Felix doesn’t quite meet her eyes, and she wonders if the shadows conceal a blush. Her breath catches in her throat when his hand slips under the jacket she wears to grasp at her shoulder.

She tilts her head back at the same instant he leans down and presses his lips to hers.

The feeling of kissing Felix is as familiar to her as if she cracked open one of her favorite texts on advanced Wind magic to read again, but just like casting Excalibur over and over, a fresh thrill fills her anew. She leans into him while her heart races in her chest, a sigh slipping through her nose as his hand strokes up the side of her neck to hold the back of her head and pull her closer.

When they part she’s as breathless as she was after climbing the stairs, though this time Felix is in much the same condition. A smile quirks at her lips when he mutters into her cheek, “Been wanting to do that all night.”

“ _ For _ all night, perhaps?” Annette wonders. 

“Don’t tempt me,” he says, his eyes glittering darkly. He cups her face with his other hand and leans in. “Annette?”

Her eyes slip shut as she breathes in his scent and soaks in his warmth - does she really need his jacket when his body heat will do just fine? “Mm?” She slips her hands over his chest to his shoulders and tugs him closer against her.

“Can I have my jacket back?”

Annette’s eyes shoot open so she can witness how the force of her unimpressed frown affects him. But he only grins like a damn villain, and before she even gives permission he snatches it off her and drapes it over the railing.

“You would let me freeze then, Felix?” she demands. “What sort of scoundrel of a husband are you?”

He laughs, which only irritates her more, even when he promises, “I’ll keep you warm.”

Then he kisses her soundly again, and it gives her no more reason to complain.

Especially when it makes the process of what comes next more...efficient.

**Author's Note:**

> maybe they did it in the Goddess Tower and maybe they didn’t. it’s all up for interpretation anyway.
> 
> let me know what you thought!


End file.
